Research Gap Worksheet

This worksheet identifies research gaps in various fields such as marijuana use, antidepressants, ADHD, eating disorders, and borderline personality disorder. It provides a brief summary of the research conducted in each field and highlights the gaps in the research. The worksheet also proposes research questions that can help fill these gaps.

Running head: RESEARCH GAP WORKSHEET
Research Gap Worksheet
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Article #1
Grunberg, V. A., Cordova, K. A., Bidwell, L., & Ito, T. A. (2015). Can marijuana make it
better? Prospective effects of marijuana and temperament on risk for anxiety and
depression. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 29(3), 590.
Gap identified
The aim objective of the study conducted by Grunberg et al. (2015) is to examine how
the use of marijuana moderates the effects of temperament on the level of depression and
anxiety. The analysis of the results by Grunberg et al. (2015) showed that temperament
dimension of Harm Avoidance (HA) is associated with pessimism, apprehension and
inhibition and this in turn is associated with both anxiety and depression, which further varies
with the level of marihuana. HA calculated at baseline is associated with more symptoms of
both depression and anxiety, which is calculated one year later for those only with low level
of marihuana use. However, when the consumption of marijuana is high the HA is unrelated
to levels of depression and anxiety. The results also mainly highlighted that the predictive
effect of marijuana use and HA are over and above the levels depression and anxiety
expressed a year earlier (Grunberg et al., 2015).
However, the main gaps in the research it, the research fail to analyze whether
marijuana in producing anxiolytic and mood elevating benefits and the mechanism
underlying it (Grunberg et al., 2015). Analysis of the mood benefits under the effect of
consumption of marijuana will help to attenuate the greater risk of anxiety and depression
associated with HA. Proper study of the effect of marijuana on mood benefits and its
underlying mechanism will help to get a clear picture of how marijuana change the
neurological function resulting in the change in mood. Getting a clear perspective of the
mechanism will help to ascertain the permissible limit of marijuana. Moreover studying the

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effects of marijuana will also help to ascertain whether the consumption of marijuana among
marijuana addicted population increase the basal anxiety level along with the cardiovascular
output, alcohol craving and cocaine craving (Fox, Tuit & Sinha, 2013).
Research Question
Analysis of the effect of marijuana in mood change and change in the stress system
and the underlying neurological mechanism inviting in the change in stress system
Article #2
Kirsch, I. (2014). Antidepressants and the placebo effect. Zeitschrift für Psychologie, 222(3),
128.
Gap identified
The study conducted by Kirsch (2014) is mainly based on the fact that majority of the
benefits of the anti-depressant are due to placebo effect. This is because, the difference
between the effect of anti-depressant between the placebo and the drug is not clinically
significant but significance lies is in the statistical calculations. The main reason behind this
anti-depressants have their side-effects in common. For example, when one participant is
told that he or she is under a double-blinded trial and might be given placebo there generates
an apprehension. Moreover, the revealing of the side effects of the applied drugs further
increases the apprehension. Since the actual effect of the drugs appears lately but the side-
effects of the drug arrives quickly, the test group and the placebo group can easily
discriminate whether they are receiving the drugs or not before “breaking the blind”. Since
the groups who are under the trail ascertain that they are receiving the drugs, the result shows
significant difference between the placebo and test group in the statistical domain.

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However, the main gaps in the research is, the systematic review conducted by Kirsch
(2014) mainly identified comparative study between placebo and trials and did not analyze
any studies that was only conducted over the placebos. Analysis of studies conducted over
only placebo will help to ascertain whether there is any significant anti-depressant effect of
drugs. In placebo trials, the participants will be told they will be given antidepressants but in
actual scenario, they won’t be given any drugs. This will help to understand whether there are
any actual clinical significance of anti-depressant or it is only the placebo effect over the
statistical analysis.
Research Question
To conduct a false non-blinding trial via telling the all the placebo group that one
group is receiving anti-depressant and another group is not and studying the placebo effect of
antidepressant.
Article #3
Lei, D., Du, M., Wu, M., Chen, T., Huang, X., Du, X., ... & Gong, Q. (2015). Functional MRI
reveals different response inhibition between adults and children with
ADHD. Neuropsychology, 29(6), 874.
Gap identified
The study conducted by Lei et al. (2015) is mainly based on Attention-deficit
hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). A number of functional MRI (fMRI) studies conducted over
ADHD revealed that there remain altered brain activation patterns between healthy
individuals and ADHD patients. Lei et al. (2015) conducted met-analysis of fMRI studies in
order to compare the abnormalities of children and adults with ADHD during the inhibition
of motor response. The activation likelihood estimation (ALE) was used to investigate brain

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activation difference between controls and patients and subtraction meta-analysis was
employed by Lei et al. (2015) to compare abnormalities of ADHD with children and adults.
Their results indicated dysfunction in numerous areas of motor inhibition networks that play
a crucial role in the generation of the abnormal neural mechanisms. The comparison between
the adult and child subgroups raised the possibility of persistence functional abnormalities of
the caudate, which may be regarded as an important factor underlying the existence of
ADHD. The main gap in the research is the research or the comparative research is mainly
conducted between the adults and children based on different kind of tasks like “go/no-go
task” (participants here respond to one particular stimulus and inhibit the corresponding
response to the other stimuli) and the another one is stop-signal task (here the subjects inhibit
the response over the presentation of a stop signal to a define portion of trials) (Lei et al.,
2015). However comparison between adult and children on based on same type of task may
lead to bias results due to the difference in the maturity level of adults and children
(Cameron, 2015). Hence, to nullify the gap, a research must be framed in such a way the
comparative analysis will be done between the sustained attention of adults and children over
certain tasks like reading comprehension or memory gaming (the task frame based on the
maturity level) (Christakou et al., 2013). This comparative study between the adults and the
children with ADHD will help to analyze that whether the severity of ADHD is actually less
among the adults in comparison to the children. This will again help to get a reference to the
alteration of the brain symptoms among the adults and the children based on fMRI results.
Research Question
Comparison between sustain attention between the children and the adults with
ADHD in order to understand difference in the level of chronicity of the disease between
different age group.

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Article #4
Berrettini, W. (2004). The genetics of eating disorders. Psychiatry (Edgmont), 1(3), 18.
Gap identified
The study conducted by Berrettini, W. (2004) is based on the analysis of the genetics
behind the eating disorders, anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. The study highlighted that
there remain a significant genetic role behind the development of eating pathology. This
genetic abnormality cause abnormal eating behavior. The genetic basis is mainly highlighted
from the family studies and the twin studies. This is because, controlled family studies have
highlighted increase rate of eating disorder among women in comparison to men. This
susceptibility of developing the eating disorder increase if there is a previous family history
of the eating disorder. The twin study showed that increase in the susceptibility of the eating
disorder among the monozygotic twin in comparison to the di-zygotic twin. The reason
highlighted that the monozygotic twin share identical genes and di-zygotic twin share half of
gene on an average.
However, the main gaps in the research is, the study did not conducted the whether
the prevailing external environment increases the susceptibility of the development of the
eating disorder among the individuals who are genetically predisposed for the development of
the eating disorders. The study conducted by Berrettini, W. (2004) mainly analyzed the
prevailing genetic backup of the disease but did not elucidated the underlying psychological
mechanisms that impacted the genetic susceptibility leading to the developing of eating
disorder, anorexia. According to Costa‐Font and Jofre‐Bonet (2013), disturbed past, physical
assault and body shaming are three main prevailing external environmental consequences of
developing eating disorders. Suisman et al. (2014) further highlighted that if an individual
resides under an environment surrounded by physically fit or slim people, he or she develops

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a tendency of staying fit and it may at times this tendency reach to an extent of addiction
leading to the development of anorexia. Apart from this childhood obesity and traumatic past
due to obese physical assault leads to the development of eating disorder during early
adulthood (Sahoo et al., 2015).
Research Question
Do the prevailing environment factors increases the susceptibility of the development of
eating disorder (anorexia) among genetically susceptible group of population?
Article #5
Sulzer, S. H. (2015). Does “difficult patient” status contribute to de facto demedicalization?
The case of borderline personality disorder. Social Science & Medicine, 142, 82-89.
Gap identified
The study conducted by Sulzer (2015), is based on the Borderline Personality
Disorder (BPD) which creates "difficult patient" status to the healthcare professionals. This
group of patients are deemed difficult to manage of handle and are frequently dis-preferred
for care. The interview conducted by Sulzer (2015) over the mental health clinicians in the
United States revealed that the patients with BPD are routinely labeled "difficult" and
subsequently routed out of care via a variety of indirect or direct means. This system creates a
functional form of demedicalization under which the actual diagnosis of BPD remains de jure
medicalized but the treatment component of the medicalization is comparatively difficult to
secure for the patients. However, the main gaps in the research is, Sulzer (2015) did not
reported whether BPD patients suffer from the certain level of emotional dysregulation.
According to Carpenter and Trull (2013), Linehan’s biosocial model, emotional dysregulation
prevails among the BPD patients and this emotional dysreguation has four different

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components like heightened and labile negative effect, emotion sensitivity and surplus of
maladaptive strategies. So there can be instances that the maladaptive practices by the
healthcare professionals lead to the generation of the emotional dysregulation among BPD
patients and thereby causing a disrespect for care. Proper analysis of the malpractices as
experienced by the BPD patients from the doctors will be helpful in framing a clear picture
behind the functional demedicalization. Interview conducted with open-ended questainnaire
with individuals who are classified by the doctors under the category of BPD will be helpful
in getting a clear yet unbiased picture of the functional demdicalization or reluctance to take
care.
Research Question
Are the BPD patients are victims of maladaptive practice by the healthcare
professionals leading to their reluctance or disbelief in the overall care process?

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References
Berrettini, W. (2004). The genetics of eating disorders. Psychiatry (Edgmont), 1(3), 18.
Cameron, N. (2015). Can maturity indicators be used to estimate chronological age in
children?. Annals of human biology, 42(4), 302-307.
Carpenter, R. W., & Trull, T. J. (2013). Components of emotion dysregulation in borderline
personality disorder: A review. Current psychiatry reports, 15(1), 335.
Christakou, A., Murphy, C. M., Chantiluke, K., Cubillo, A. I., Smith, A. B., Giampietro,
V., ... & Rubia, K. (2013). Disorder-specific functional abnormalities during sustained
attention in youth with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and with
autism. Molecular psychiatry, 18(2), 236.
Costa‐Font, J., & Jofre‐Bonet, M. (2013). Anorexia, body image and peer effects: evidence
from a sample of European women. Economica, 80(317), 44-64.
Fox, H. C., Tuit, K. L., & Sinha, R. (2013). Stress system changes associated with marijuana
dependence may increase craving for alcohol and cocaine. Human
Psychopharmacology: Clinical and Experimental, 28(1), 40-53.
Grunberg, V. A., Cordova, K. A., Bidwell, L., & Ito, T. A. (2015). Can marijuana make it
better? Prospective effects of marijuana and temperament on risk for anxiety and
depression. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 29(3), 590.
Kirsch, I. (2014). Antidepressants and the placebo effect. Zeitschrift für Psychologie, 222(3),
128.

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Sahoo, K., Sahoo, B., Choudhury, A. K., Sofi, N. Y., Kumar, R., & Bhadoria, A. S. (2015).
Childhood obesity: causes and consequences. Journal of family medicine and primary
care, 4(2), 187.
Suisman, J. L., Thompson, J. K., Keel, P. K., Burt, S. A., Neale, M., Boker, S., ... & Klump,
K. L. (2014). Genetic and environmental influences on thin‐ideal internalization
across puberty and preadolescent, adolescent, and young adult
development. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 47(7), 773-783.
Sulzer, S. H. (2015). Does “difficult patient” status contribute to de facto demedicalization?
The case of borderline personality disorder. Social Science & Medicine, 142, 82-89.